Mr. President. I am very pleased to join Senator LAuTENBEEG in introducing this legislation paying tribute to Dr. de Sousa Mendes for his extraordinary efforts during World War II to help refugees escape Nazi persecution. Following the collapse of the French Republic in June 1940. thousands of European refugees fled south to Bordeaux to escape the Nazi armies. From there they tried to make their way over the Pyrenees Mountains through Spain to neutral Portugal. At that time. Dr. de Sousa Mendes was the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux and found himself under strict orders from the Salazar government not to issue visas to escaping refugees. particularly Jews. He defied those orders and issued more than 30.000 visas to stranded refugees. including at least 10.000 visas to Jewish refugees. When the Salazar government learned that de Sousa Mendes had followed the dictates of his conscience rather than the demands of the regime. it closed Portugals borders to anyone carrying a visa issued in Bordeaux. De Sousa Mendes then personally guided "500 refugees through a Portuguese border post that had not yet learned of the ban on visas issued in Bordeaux. Ordered home by the Salazar government. Dr. de Sousa Mendes was dismissed from the Foreign Service and stripped of his right to practice law.
Keywords matched
visas visa refugees